Objectives and events

Objectives

The Objectives tab (left edge) sets what the player has to do: up to six things, listed in the order the game's map computer will show them. The mission is complete when every one of them is done.

Every kind of objective and event on this page has been tried in the game itself, completing as it should.

The objectives, and their numbered diamonds on the map

A mission copied from one of the originals starts with that level's own objectives, in their own words. Keep them, drop the ones you don't want (×), or add your own:

Objective	You pick	Done when
From the level	one of the level's own	whatever the level tests
Eliminate a guard	a guard, yours or the level's	he is dead
Eliminate every guard	nothing	every enemy is dead (soldiers on your side don't count)
Collect a weapon or item	a pickup	the player picks it up
Reach an area	a point and a radius on the map	the player gets there
Hack a terminal	one of the level's terminals	it is hacked
Destroy something	a vehicle, camera or explosive	it is blown up

How a copy of a level ends. Keep all of the level's own objectives and add none of your own, and the mission ends the way the level does: its extraction, then its closing scene. Leave some out, or add your own, and the mission is complete when the ones in your list are done; the level's closing scene, if you kept it, plays then. Some of the level's objectives, such as Proceed to the extraction point, have nothing of their own to test: keep one of those while leaving others out, and the mission still ends the way the level does, waiting for the ones you left out too. The check list warns you when that happens.

The Objectives tab

• ⊕ picks the target on the map; the eye shows it; × removes the objective.
• While you pick, the map steps back and everything you can pick lights up, ringed and named. A list beside the banner names them, nearest first: click a name to pick it. If none is in sight, the map goes to them; with none on the map at all, it says so and what to place. A click near one takes it, not the building around it. Picking a place (an area to reach) shows green crosshairs.
• Each objective of your own has its own text. Leave it empty for a sensible default.
• Drag a row by its header to change the order. The numbers on the map follow.
• On the map, targets carry numbered yellow diamonds. A badge on a patrolling guard walks with him.
• In the game, each objective has its line on the map computer's objectives page and, where it has a place, a numbered marker on its map.

Hacking a terminal

In the game, the player hacks a terminal by holding the use key right at it for its hacking time, about four seconds. A step back from the desk is too far. Pick a terminal the player can walk right up to.

A guard who comes later

A guard who arrives later, sent in by an event or by the alarm, can't be an objective's target or the guard an event watches: the game can't watch him before he is there. The map doesn't offer him, and Eliminate every guard leaves out everyone who comes later.

Collecting a weapon

The player takes things by walking into them. A weapon on top of a stack of crates, or on a roof, can't be reached, and the check list warns you about it. The game also does not count a weapon the player already carries as picked up, so choose something that is not in the mission's starting kit.

The mission fails if the alarm goes off (under the list) makes it a stealth mission. It also fails on the level's own failures and when the player dies.

Time limit and weather

Design, Time limit and weather (or the button under the objectives):

Time limit and weather

• Time limit in minutes and seconds, and whether the countdown shows on screen. When it runs out, the mission fails. Messages warn the player at five minutes, one minute and ten seconds.
• Rain or snow: as the level has it, clear, rain or snow, from light to heavy.
• Haze: how hazy the distance is, from the clearest level to the haziest.

As the level puts them all back.

Map labels

The same tab lets you name your own buildings on the game's map computer, with a title and a line of information, as the game labels its own.

32 markers and labels

The map computer holds 32 markers and labels, no more: one more and the game refuses to load the level. The studio counts them for you, writes your objectives' markers over the level's own first, and warns you before the limit is reached. The map computer preview shows how many are used.

Events

The Events tab is when this happens, that happens. Pick what starts an event from the list at the top; each event becomes a card below with a When and a Then. An event happens once.

An event: when the player reaches the radar dome, a message shows

When:

• the player reaches an area (a square you place on the map, which soldiers on your side set off too)
• a switch is pressed, a guard dies, a terminal is hacked, an item is picked up, something is blown up
• a camera sees the player, or an alarm goes off
• a number of seconds after the start, or some seconds after another event

Then:

• Show a message, in your own words, for so many seconds.
• Raise an alarm, the level's or one of yours.
• Send in guards: Place new guards (pick a kind, then click where each one appears) or Pick on the map guards of yours already placed. They are not there until the event happens. For each one, set how many times he comes, and then walks to (or runs to) a walkway point you pick on the map: he arrives and moves on.
• Open doors of the level.
• Fail the mission, with your own words or the game's Mission failed.
• A soldier moves on: click a soldier, yours or the level's, then where he goes. It becomes a step of his orders, and the card lists every soldier who moves on when it happens.

While an event asks for something (a switch, a guard, a terminal, doors, a soldier who moves on), the map shows what can be picked, as it does for objectives.

On the map, each event has a pink numbered badge on its area, or on what it watches. The check list warns about an event that can never happen: nothing picked, or its target removed.

The Events tab with two events

Doors

Doors you place, and the ones a building brings with it, open in the game as its own do (see What comes with a building). Select one of the level's doors and its panel has a Lock section:

• Locked: as the level has it, always, or until something happens: a switch is pressed, a terminal hacked, an item picked up, a guard killed, or an event.
• Lock can be picked: the player can pick it, taking that many seconds.
• Opens by itself when an event happens.

A pink padlock marks every door the mission changes. A lift's doors are left alone: the lift opens them when the cabin arrives.

Next: cameras and alarms.